NYU Launches Business Continuity Planning Certificate in Fall 2004; Intensive One-Year Program For Executives.

Business Editors/Education Writers

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 19, 2004

Training In Homeland Security and Continuation of Operations in Face

of Disaster or Attack

New York University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies (www.scps.nyu.edu) will launch this fall a new professional certificate in Business Continuity Planning to educate private-sector executives to develop plans and manage continuation of business operations in the midst of natural disasters, such as flood, fire or earthquake, or man-made calamity, such as terrorist attack.

The certificate is an intensive one-year program designed for mid- to senior-level managers, part of the School's new homeland security curriculum that includes certificates in Emergency Management and Homeland Security. Taught by leading security experts and continuity professionals, these programs will also tap into other University faculty and academic resources, such as the NYU Center for Catastrophe Preparedness and Response (NYU CCPR) and the NYU Medical School.

According to Howard Greenstein, director of the NYU SCPS Center for Management, training in this area is in high demand, as businesses try to respond to a new security-conscious environment. For example, insurers are increasing demands that their policyholders have business continuity systems in place, and business must comply with new government security rules from the SEC and the Sarbanes-Oxley law.

"Security experts make clear that business continuity cannot be separate from a company's finance, budget and control, information technology, information security management, operational risk management and crisis communications departments. NYU's new Business Continuity Planning certificate will educate executives how to manage and coordinate all business protection issues under one umbrella, thus ensuring effective oversight of all critical continuity processes."

"NYU is looking at Business Continuity, Homeland Security, and Emergency Management as three tightly-linked elements," says Thomas Daniel, executive director of NYU CCPR and adjunct professor in the certificate program.

"As private sector firms increase their preparedness they strengthen the nation's ability to respond to terror or catastrophe in any form. Working with all the divisions of the largest private university in the country, we hope to educate private sector employees, as well as government agency officials at all levels about risk and preparedness."

The Business Continuity Planning curriculum covers a broad range of areas, including developing and implementing business continuity plans, emergency response and operations, planning exercises, training employees, and coordinating with outside agencies, backing up IT and other critical business information, and understanding how business continuity planning can positively impact your business. Further, courses will cover all critical new developments in the field, such as the NFPA 1600 standard, recently recommended by the Presidential 9/11 Commission's working group on the private sector as the national preparedness standard.